1. Field of Invention
This invention pertains to a sheath for covering hand-held devices and more particularly concerns a sheath configured for enclosing a hand-held device having controls thereon in a manner to facilitate a user's manipulation of the controls on the enclosed hand-held device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Modern hospital facilities and walk-in medical clinics require disinfection of surfaces and devices utilized in a medical treatment room or in a recovery room to minimize the spread of infectious diseases. A multitude of hand-held auxiliary devices may require covering with a sterile sheath when the device is utilized to remotely control medical equipment such as adjustable beds, video display units for viewing surgical procedures, ultrasound power units, and/or television units utilized by the medical staff or utilized by the patient during post-operative recovery. Moreover, certain investigatory medical probes having controls thereon must be enclosed by a sterile cover before use to guard against contamination.
Prior art devices have involved covering a hand-held device with a generally planar film of material, or inserting a medical probe into a sheath of material having generally planar sides. These hand-held devices or medical probes often includes one or more controls positioned on their exterior surface. No prior art sheath of this type is known which provides adequate accommodation for the manipulation of the buttons, calibrating dials, or adjusting knobs, frequently associated with these devices. Thus, in the prior art there exists a potential for tearing of the film exists when attempting to manipulate the button, dial, or knob. For a device or probe having controls protruding from opposing sides of the device, the opposed side controls can unduly stretch the planar sides of the sheath when the device or probe is inserted into the sheath. Stretching of the sheath sides poses an increased risk of tearing the sheath material during insertion of the device or probe into the sheath and/or during manipulation of the controls.
Moreover, there is an absence of tactility when seeking to operate the control of a device or probe which is enclosed in a straight sided sheath.